This invention relates generally to monitoring apparatus and more particularly to a seed detecting and monitoring system for a multi-row seed planter. While certain features of this invention may be adapted for many different uses, the disclosure will be facilitated by directing it particularly to the problems of monitoring seeds being discharged in a seed planter which is pulled by a tractor.
As is well known, a farmer engaged in mechanized planting of various seeds utilizes a planting machine pulled behind a tractor. Such planting machines usually include a plurality of separate planting devices or dispensers supplied with seed from separate hoppers so that a plurality of rows of seeds may be planted at one time. With planting equipment of this type it is usually difficult if not impossible for a farmer to determine the rate at which seeds are being planted during the actual planting operation. Also, there have been many instances where one or more of the planting units have failed to plant any seed at all without the farmer being aware of the fact for a relatively long period of time. When this happens, of course, one or more of the plurality of rows of seeds being planted will be void of crop during the growing season.
To overcome these problems, planter monitor systems have been developed to monitor the seeds being planted and to indicate to the farmer, while operating the tractor, that a malfunction has occurred in one or more of the seed dispensers. The farmer would then correct the malfunction and thereafter continue to plant a plurality of rows of seed simultaneously with assurance that seeds are being planted in each row. One such seed planter monitor which has been quite successful is of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,989 to Fathauer et al. which issued Mar. 27, 1973 and is assigned to the same assignee.
This type of planter monitor requires a cable or wire to be interconnected between each of the seed sensing units and its associated seed dispenser and the monitor console unit which is located on the tractor in front of the tractor operator. The interconnecting cable between the monitor console and the seed sensors sometimes presents problems in that the connectors may come loose or the wires associated therewith break as a result of vibration and other mechanical stresses applied to the cable during normal operation of the seed planter. Furthermore, each time the planter is connected to the tractor for a planting operation, cables associated with the monitoring system must also be connected. Should it be necessary for the farmer to disconnect the planter during a planting operation, the cables must then be disconnected. This is a time-consuming operation and reduces the overall efficiency of the farmer's planting operation.